He also offers a warning to Lee Johnson should results go south later in the season based on what happened 10 years ago.

“There are definite similarities [with Lee] to the way Lee’s father Gary manages. I can see that Gary’s obviously passed things on to his son," said McIndoe who spent two seasons at Ashton Gate from 2007-09.

“I think Lee needs to believe in himself a little bit more. I know Lee personally and I think he did ever so well last year riding the storm because it was one hell of a storm – let’s be completely honest about it.

“And he rode it out. And he needs to realise that when you put yourself out there as a leader of men you’re going to get a lot more stick than you ever got as a footballer because the buck stops with you.

Steve Lansdown (Image: Robbie Stephenson/JMP)

“I think Mr Lansdown has been extremely patient and I think that’s because he sees Lee’s long-term vision.

“Lee has always talked throughout his football career about becoming a manager and about an ethos of how he wanted to play.

“And I think the Bristol City fans are starting to see that. The key is can they consistently keep it going across the Championship? Because as everyone knows, it’s an extremely tough division.”

The Bristol Post asked about for some more detail on the similarities between Gary and Lee’s teams.

Cheltenham Town boss Gary Johnson

“When I watched them play on Sky I noticed that they’re breaking lines. And I mean that from passing through defensive lines and not so much passing sideways or backwards all the time, which a lot of Championship clubs do.

“And the other thing that I’ve noticed, which we used to do in GJ’s side, was not panicking around the box.

“You have to put in more crosses in the Championship but it doesn’t always have to be your standard cross.

“So in and around the box you have to be a lot calmer. Rushing around and just chucking it in willy-nilly is never going to get you anywhere in the top half of the Championship.

Cheltenham Town manager Gary Johnson (Image: Nizaam Jones/JMP)

“I think that Lee’s put that together a little bit. I see his team probing around the edge of the box and looking for that easier chance rather than just generally getting it into the box and a ‘let’s see what happens kind of cross’.

McIndoe, who talks openly about his time at Bristol City in his recent book Wildling, also revealed why he left the Robins in 2009: "Because the club weren’t sticking to the ethos that I originally signed up to".

“I love to pass the ball on the floor and love to attack at speed, whether counter-attacking football or passing it through football. I’m used to playing both.

Dele Adebola

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“When we started going long, we signed Dele Adebola, and naturally that changes your style and pattern of play. And I just felt that we didn’t stick to the ethos that Gary himself had trained me up on. And that’s why I left,” he explained.

“My time there was fantastic though. But the latter point of my first season we started to play differently.”

“I believe that if we’d kept with the ethos of the first part of my first season there then we would have been promoted. We threw it away, let's be blunt about it.

“And if we’d have stuck to that I have no doubt in my mind that we’d have been promoted,” explained McIndoe who gives more detail in his book about what big pressure does to a team.

“It wasn’t the play-off final that cost us. It was the second half of that season – we should never have been in the playoffs,” said McIndoe on the closest that the Robins have got to the promised land of the Premier League.

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And that's a warning that Johnson junior should heed according to McIndoe: "Stick to your ethos. If that's what gets you to sixth position right now, Lee, then continue doing that. If you lose one or two, don't change".

McIndoe, who played for 10 different clubs, also revealed the inspiration for his book Wildling, which the former Wolves attacker hopes may benefit some younger players and educate them about some of the pitfalls they may come across in their career.

"The book is clear. That's the biggest thing for me. I always knew the truth would come out eventually and my name would be cleared completely.

"I suppose I was disappointed that the media hadn't done their due dilligence properly and had reported these national articles that were an absolute load of rubbish, but I'm very happy that Scotland Yard got involved.